Read More

The attack itself won't be shown but David will wake up the next day in Josh's bed and realise he's been drugged and assaulted - reports the Daily Mirror.

The ITV soap will show how his feelings of shame and disgust make him wrestle to decide whether or not to report the crime.

An estimated 12,000 men are raped in the UK every year, and more than 70,000 are sexually abused or assaulted. Corrie bosses are working closely with local charity Survivors Manchester to ensure the plot is portrayed accurately.

One insider revealed: “There won’t be any sexually explicit scenes, what has happened to David will be implied by his reaction and behaviour when he wakes up the next day and starts to remember some of what happened.

Read More

“With Josh still on the street, David struggles to deal with the shame of what has happened to him. This is a big storyline for Jack and everyone is determined to get it right.”

Seemingly charming personal trainer and mechanic Josh, who will be played by an unknown actor, arrives on the cobbles in January - and sets about getting the residents into shape for a charity boxing match.

JACK P SHEPHERD actor David Platt in Coronation Street

The desperately dark storyline is unlikely to please lifelong Corrie fan Sir Michael Parkinson, who last month moaned that the flagship ITV series had become “more horror than soap”.

Read More

Channel 4's Hollyoaks tackled the issue in 2015. Executive producer Bryan Kirkwood said he'd tried to do it while boss of EastEnders between 2010-12, but had been told “in no uncertain terms” that it wasn't suitable.

Claiming that the Hollyoaks plot was the proudest moment of his career, he said: “Rape of female characters has become a staple over the years yet male rape or the sexual abuse of men isn't a conversation we have, ever."